Command These Stones
by SpiritOfEowyn
Summary: After New New York with Martha, the Doctor is visited by a member of the Trickster's Brigade with an offer he can't resist: See Rose again, but lie even once and she dies. Could he live with himself if he doesn't? Can be completely honest? Willshesurvive?
1. Chapter 1

Title: **Command These Stones**

Author: Spirit of Eowyn

Characters: Ten/Rose Martha, this chapter others later.

Rating: PG

Warning: None

Genre: Angst/Mystery Romance drama

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. This is all an experiment of fun. I have no beta since all my friends hate rose/doctor. :( So all errors are my own. First Fic posted in a long time. Please comment if you like it.

bSummary: /b After New New York with Martha, the Doctor is visited by a member of the Trickster's Brigade with an offer he can't resist- See Rose again, but lie even once and she dies. Will he accept? Could he live with himself if he didn't? Can the Doctor actually be completely honest to save a life? Find out!

/wiki/Trickster%27s_Brigade - In case you don't know what they are.

Command These Stones...

**Chapter One**

They were traveling back to the TARDIS which was somewhere below them in the massive city of New New York, when the Doctor noticed that they were being followed. He glanced around and saw what would look to Martha like a pre- pubescent young girl with olive skin, long loose back hair, wearing a long purple dress that was so dark as to appear black in the shadow, with a gold belt and edging.

He however knew she was not. He kept Martha facing forward as they walked. He wouldn't let the creature find the TARDIS.

He whispered to Martha. "If you value your life, do not speak to our guest."

"What guest?" Martha asked looking around.

"Shh! finger on lips." He turned around.

Martha huffed, before putting her finger on her lips with a sarcastic Happy Now? look on her face, before finding before her an over-makeup-ed human girl. "It's just a girl."

"Finger on lips!" He insisted. Martha slowly complied. "Now, no, it only looks young to your human eyes. It's actually quite old, and dangerous, it could kill you with a word, well probably more words than just one, Well if it wanted to..."

The girl gave an rather adult chuckle and waved at Martha. Martha stepped back a step.

"Hello, young girl." The olive skinned girl with heavy golden eye shadow and eyeliner greeted Martha with an accent she wasn't familiar with. "Martha by name, rhymes with phones."

"How do you know my name?" Martha asked.

"It's what I do-" The not little girl said.

"Now, Hey, look at me!" The Doctor waved his hands at the girl. "Time Lord, aren't I interesting! Now tell me why would you join the tricksters brigade? Your kind were made better than that." The Doctor asks, hands deceptively casual in his pockets, face wary.

"Life Debt. I wanted to live more than anything, and it saved me from The War. Besides rules are for those who died." She said disdainfully. "This is far more fun."

He turned to Martha seriously. "Trickster's Brigade. They seek to change the course of history by altering details in individuals' lives," He shook his head "always for evil. They'll offer you your deepest desires and leave you with ash. It always is wrong. Always twisted. Always technically honest but will trap you in your words. You want lots of gold? Fine, it'll send you to the bottom of the sea with buried treasure. Without air. Or inside a golden casket in space. Tricksy. Best leave this to me."

Martha glanced at the alien and then back to the Doctor. "Like Genies?"

"Yes, good analogy," He nodded vigorously. "I'll have to use that one next time."

"How did you know I'd joined him, Doctor?" The girl asked. "Abigali by the way."

He frowned at her in disappointment and his eyes darkened. "I can hear you, and you've lost your light."

The girl tapped her temple. "Oh! Yes." The telepath was immediately inaccessible to the Doctor. "I don't show up for most, but I suppose we're too similar, you and I. Didn't think of that. Thanks for the warning." She smiled.

"So, timelord who calls himself 'Doctor', What do you want most?" She asked idly.

He looked at her with dark brooding eyes. Martha looked between them.

Abigali turned to Martha. "I could tell you who you'll marry, don't you want to know that? Young human women always want to know that."

The Doctor gave Martha a warning look.

"Oh, come on, ruining my fun! I could tell you most anything you want to know- Martha I'll give you a hint-"

"No!"

"It's just a hint," Martha objected intrigued. "I'm not asking for anything."

Abigali smiled. "He's gone, tombstone and all but he'll be back Mrs. Smith. Once an insecure boy, now a brave stalwart man of his own making."

The Doctor knew by this point what Abigali was leading Martha to believe with that last line, and used that to remind himself that there were lies in technical truth.

"Well, Doctor?" She slithered up to him so she had to look up to see him.

"You couldn't give me what I'd want." The Doctor said.

"I can't bring back Gallifrey, sure, only you who locked it away and ate the key, but you will see it in the moments before you die." She promised. "No, while the want you state is motivated by guilt, at this point what you iwant/i is a second chance of another sort."

His thoughts turned more recent. Regret, longing, sorrow- the want of impossible things. There was a name to them he tried to forget, yet motivated him to keep going. He held it in, and felt the power of the trickster in his voice of it.

"Rose." He breathed.

Abigali grinned as a used car salesman at a desperate customer.. "Tell me more. Mmm. I can see her now."

The Doctor rushed to put up reinforced mental walls, thoughts of her were ones he would not share with one who could turn grief into desperation. He feared what he was capable of if he dared let his mind focus on Rose's pursuit. If he thought too long on what was lost.

"So, your real regret is that you weren't honest with her. hah! You who lies to everyone and calls me trickster in your heart because you refuse to acknowledge it in yourself." Abigali taunted, at odds with her youthful look.

The Doctors eyes turned cold and hard.

"You say to yourself that if you could you would say the words you missed. You would change. But would you? You're still YOU." Abigali's cruel honesty was another mark of her kind.

Martha looked warily between the two.

Abigali pulled out a small gold disc, closed her eyes briefly and blew on it. Immediately the image of a blonde woman at first beaming a bright smile appeared in the air above it. "What would you give to see her again?"

Oh, she's blonde, big surprise, Martha thought, while trying not to compare herself with the Doctor's former companion.

"Alive?" He asked.

Martha's head shot up.

"Alive." She laughed and nodded. The girl now wore a blue jumper with black pants and looked resolute and determined.

"And not seconds, minutes, or hours from dying." He countered.

"Of course. You are like my kind, I'd want to see you happy. This is a gift!" Abigali tried another ploy.

The Doctor very much doubted that.

"A Rose that knows who I am, that remembers Canary Wharf?" He hated the hopefulness tingling his words, and the strength of this temptation.

"A Rose who spoke to you on a beach." She lured. "And is still waiting for a response..."

His thoughts turned inward. "My life." He said.

Abigali laughed "Hah! That's nothing. Nothing for you, you'd give your life away for any damn reason. No. Besides that's no cost. No." The small girl circled around him, as she seemed to brainstorm. "For Rose, This is the deal, Timelord. You must be icompletely /i honest with her, about her unknown past, about you, about your feelings. If you lie, just one lie- she will die. Can you manage that trickster?"

"Her life! Her life is not fair I-" won't risk her. No.

"Come now- all you have to do is be honest. Don't you wish you had been? Come on. Should be easy for you." Abigali grinned. "Does that sound like a hard request to you, Martha?"

Martha jumped a bit when the child talked to her. She thought this was going to be another one of those' you don't get it Martha' talks. She glanced at both of them before saying. " No."

"See?" Abigali countered. "I'm just making sure you don't waste a good opportunity if you get it. Call me a romantic. So things don't just go back to normal, and relatively miserable and closed off. Incentive! So you live that life that you have Doctor, that most of us don't." She waved her hand over the projector again.

The image changed to the same girl in a black jacket, arms across her chest and a desperate sadness in her eyes and a fools hope in her smile.

He stared at it his eyes welling up, Could he do it? But her life, it was just too much. He couldn't risk being the one to kill her. It'd kill him dead. He hated the coward in him, that given this chance he couldn't take it. This was the poison in the gift apple. As he glanced at Martha, he remembered that even right now he was lying to Martha, lying because he wanted to, because it was convenient, because he liked it. Over a simple question. He hated himself the more for it. If he was just the completely honest sort of man, the answer would be yes and he could see his Rose.

He covered his face with his hand, squeezing tears back into his eyes. He couldn't risk it. His answer was long in coming, dead eyes gazing at nothing. "No."

"No?" Abigali said. "I guess she didn't mean that much to you."

He wanted to strike her down where she stood. "No, her life is worth far more than mine. I refuse. Nice try Abigali, but reason wins again." He looked down on the dark haired girl. "I'm a stronger man than that."

"We'll see." Abigali said patiently.

"Martha." The Doctor motioned for Martha to walk away from the creature first. She edged by, eager to escape the weird thing that had made the Doctor waver.

"See you in New York, again sometime." Abigali's words followed them as they walked faster to reach the TARDIS.

For practice, as soon as the Doctor reached the safety of the TARDIS, the Doctor was honest to Martha about the state of his home world.

After defeating the Daleks again the Doctor and Martha walked by the bay on their way back to the TARDIS the Doctor thought about how he'd almost died, and it hadn't bothered him. He'd seen Rose in those moments of electrified unconsciousness.. He could hear her voice. 'New new new new York.' laughing while laying on the grass. 'So good they named it twice. That was our first date! ' He could almost smell the applegrass. Her crying. "I love you!"

"The pig and the showgirl." Martha interrupted his thoughts. Good, he needed those kinds of thoughts interrupted.

"The pig and the showgirl." He mimicked.

"Just proves it, I suppose. There's someone for everyone." Martha said blithely.

The survive while I lose everything...

The Doctor's smile disappeared as he looked out at New York.

"Maybe." His voice turned soft. If there was, she was gone now, while he lost everything, and it wasn't fair! He turned away and walked back towards the TARDIS.

The Doctor walked to the TARDIS while Martha kept looking out at the ocean trying to think of a way to cheer him up.

Behind a cobbled wall a familiar young girl blocked the Doctor's way.

Abigali, smug, said " Now?"

He squinted, looked down, then back towards New York, and spoke defeated. "Yeah."

"Here's how it works, Doctor, I will give you this." She held up a red and gold etched device that looked like a large drink coaster. "And she will come to you. Keep it on your person, always. Once she does you'll have to answer completely honestly, according to your knowledge, white lies meant to deceive and get what you want from her, will kill her as well. " She became conspiratorial " Just to be safe, you just shouldn't lie at all, of any sort you know?"

He nodded, there must be some way. He knew that there were probably a thousand deadly obstacles that would be put in his way but Rose is all he wants in the universe. Either he succeeded or he wouldn't live past killing Rose.

"Because you made me wait- there are some itty bitty more restrictions than there would have been otherwise." She showed a small space between her thumb and forefinger.

"More?" He said angrily.

" Nothing horrid, just necessary. You must give her this by the time you run into Jack, just to be safe. And tell her to keep going to find a future you. You can't force her, or trick her- that's more deception. If she doesn't go she's going to be tortured in front of you, and hurt in some real nasty ways. So I wouldn't suggest it. Wait longer and she may die, and the universe. But if she goes you'll see her again, alive. Could you give her up, be patient like mere mortals after being so honest? We'll see. Take the lantern and she will come to you."

Before he could protest, the object was in his hands and the girl who had delivered it was gone in a wave of dark purple smoke.

He waved it off, and looked down.

"Doctor?" Martha hurried up to him." Meant to say I'm sorry."

"What for?" He said as he hides the object in his suit jacket as if nothing had happened. It was so easy to deceive. A part of him congratulated himself for being so smooth.

"Just 'cause that Dalek got away. I know what that means to you. Think you'll ever see it again?" She asked.

He nodded, busying himself with the lock on the door.

" Oh, yes."

He kept his eyes down as she entered the TARDIS.

"One day." One day very soon. A fool's hope was born as he clutched the disk in his pocket, one last look at the city, before turning to close the door.

A/N: I'd like to thank my husband for helping me come up with this title It comes from Matthew 4:3 because the situation fit, which you'll see as the plot moves along. This is my Evil Plotbunny of Evil that hasn't left.


	2. Chapter 2

**Command these Stones:**

**Chapter Two:**

Rose was filling out paperwork on a man made alien attack that was a complete waste of time, but complete waste of time wasn't the most professional thing to write in a report.

An agitated looking man in a uniform ran into her office, then backed up and knocked on the open door. "Ma'm!"

"Yes?" Her eyes didn't leave the report.

"There are, um, some aliens in the building." Eric, she wanted to say the intern's name was Eric, some official's kid who had delusions of saving the world and meeting aliens. Well congrats, first alien and you're panicking.

"Friendly or otherwise?" She asked, getting up. It looked like he might have soiled his pants. Oh yes, he'd go far.

"Friendly? They're," He tilted his head." Asking for you. Personally, by name."

Rose blinked. "For me?" She stood up. " Do they happen to have really great hair?"

"Hair? No, No hair. scales, kind of like walking fish."

"All right then," She said, grabbing the personal force shield prototype that the engineers had put together before following him. "How did they get in?"

"What?" he asked distracted. Obviously still in shock and thinking an alien is an alien is an alien.

She repeated the question and added " fly , walk storm, break, swim, materialize..."

"Oh, uh. Poof I think. Just sort of there with a burst of white light?"

"Ok." So, definitely high tech, and loved their theatrics. Theatrics they would get. "Where?"

"In the portal room." She activated the invisible shield. No point in dying quickly.

Rose frowned. "Get Mickey, let them know I might need backup."  
>She drew herself up to play ambassador.<p>

"Yes, Ma'm!" Eric ran off.

The portal room wasn't much to look at lights set into the wall, wires connected, a 3 foot switch and a big machine connected to all of it. It was something she had gotten a physics and engineering degree to try to make. This room still existed for one reason-her pet project to get back to the Doctor. To get there you had to go deep into the heart of Torchwood. The fact that the aliens choose this room, the room where she had cried years before, banged on the wall, wasn't lost to her. If they were asking for her by name, they probably knew what this room meant to her. She avoided it when she wasn't working on it. It reminded her of the Doctor.

She found as he described walking fish with huge jaws and eyes that pointed outward. A being came out of their midst who had glowing green eyes. Literally glowing. No pupil, no iris no whites of the eyes, all green. He wore a funny Egyptian looking mask that only showed his eyes. He wore a gold loincloth and sandals and not much else on his gray hide, and were those dog ears or part of the headdress?

Rule #34 Rose reminded herself. 'No matter how silly an alien looks, always assume they're smart enough to destroy the Earth, since they got here from who knows where.' If a bouncy skin graft trampoline could possess her body from the other side of the room, then assume nothing.

"Wise, shield. " He seemed to approve. "I represent the Osirians." The Egyptian spoke. " I am Horus."

Of course he was, with a get up like that.

"And you are Rose Tyler." He nodded at her.

"Yeah, I heard you were asking for me. Why?" Rose asked, crossing her arms, and keeping her eyes from THAT wall.

"I'll be quick- the stars are going out, ours has already ceased-"

"Excuse me- gone dwarf or supernova?" She clarified shaking her head.

He frowned." No, ceased to be. You are not from this reality."

"Yeah." No use denying it.

"This Sutekh comes from your reality, but it is destroying ours. If it was here, we would dispose of it. But it is not. We have seen it- it will keep eating until there is nothing anywhere. Until there is nothing left but separated particles. You must go back from this point as you got here and stop it."

Sutekh, the destroyer of everything. She'd started reading every mythology she could get her hands on, since it seemed a large number of aliens were recorded in them.  
>"Ok, I would help, but " She gestured at the wall. "The walls are closed. We can't travel between anymore. Trust me I've been trying." Her lip twitched at the less than professional frog in her throat.<p>

"The walls of reality are crumbling from the Sutekh, the walls are now open." He told her.

She couldn't help the flutter of joy in her heart at the thought. Here the universe was falling apart and she was thrilled? Tone it down girl! She took a deep breath. Part of her wanted to say 'Well, then see you later, gonna try our dimension cannon to see if it works, ta ta. Don't let the door hit you on your way out.' Instead she shifted from foot to foot anxiously and said "I see."

"I don't think you do yet." He frowned, then pointed at her, shattering the shield.

"Oi!" She cried.

She could hear Mickey running from down the hall.

"I showww you." One of the fishpeople came up quicker than she would have expected of a fish out of water, and slapped a band on her arm, and whoosh they were gone.

They appeared on some high gravity planet with no trees that looked up on what to her experienced eyes appeared to be a black hole. The eating kind. She gasped and spread her feet, avoiding the instinct to crouch down away from the monstrosity. It wasn't a black hole, but it acted like it.

"It's comming." The fish gurgled, walking towards the monstrosity with calm.

Rose stumbled backwards in horror. She saw planets zoom up to it, and stars, just get eaten so there was nothing. Then there was no sound. She knew her falling and hitting a swampy blob should have made a gurgling sound but it didn't. Her panicked breathing had no sound. She couldn't feel the wet of the water dripping off her arms. No smell. It wasn't cold or hot. It wasn't anything.

She saw the fish person dematerialized in front of her. The color on the planet she was on seemed to be seeping away towards the black hole, like choosing the black and white setting for a picture.

The band on her wrist vibrated against her skin, a big yellow light blinked soundlessly. Eagerly, she pressed the button over and over again. She could feel her heart beating like a hummingbird's wings.

Come on, Come on, take me back!

She thought 'this is the end, you've killed me you green eyed bastard, what a stupid way to die!' She was oddly reminded of holding the Doctor's hand as they looked up at another black hole. She thought "Doctor." Her heart ached, and her eyes stung, she had worked tirelessly for five years to see him again at least one more time, and it was for nothing. Her Doctor. As if that was the magic word, everything went dark and she felt nothing.

She awoke to clapping and the sound of a machine powering down. Like someone was throwing a party and had a subwoofer. She was in a dark corner but there were party lights above and in front of her. She could hear muffled voices. Her breath shuddered at the return of sensations. Rose rubbed her face to bring feeling back to it. Had it all been a 'had too much to drink' dream?

No, She was still in her tunic and wet compost smelling pants from work. She peaked around a door and confirmed the party scenario. She didn't blend in with this get up. Well, off with the trousers, then. Luckily the shimmery soft gold tunic hit her mid thighs, and she had worn a waist cinching belt with it making it resemble a sort of dress. Nothing for the boots. Off they went. Some women went barefoot at parties after the heels killed anyways. She took her cell phone from her pants and stuffed it in her bra. Rose bent over and shook her hair out.

"Reborn!" She distantly head a man exclaim from the other room.

She clung to a wall as she was still a bit tipsy, and opened the door to mingle so she could find out where in the universe she was.  
>She put on the rich heiress act she did for her step sorta father at events. Funny how if you were rich enough you could wear a trash bag and claim it was fashion forward. It appeared to be Earth, which was a relief.<p>

A creepy middle aged blonde man in a tux approached her.

"Hello." He greeted, leering.

"Hi," Rose let her eyes pass over him in a clear dismissal, looking for the door.  
>He got in front of her again. " I'm Professor Lazuras." He picked her right hand up to his lips and kissed it.<br>"The scientist?" She asked smoothly. She vaguely remembered an old man with that name on the cover of Science Weekly in Pete's world.

He looked at her like she was rather daft. " Just get here?"

"I was, was in the bathroom during all the excitement I'm afraid." She covered. "Not feeling, well, and all. " She swayed a bit and showed her slightly swampy left hand. Let him believe what he wanted.

He backed up.

"Could you be so kind as to direct me to the front door?" She put her left hand on his shoulder and smiled winningly.

Mr. Lazarus pointed and backed off further, taking his jacket off as soon as he could in disgust. He headed straight to a caramel skinned young woman.

She had just stepped out the front glass door when the alarms went off and she threw her hands up before noticing it was just an alarm.

"Security one!" It blared. The doors locked off in front of her and were covered with metal walls.

She heard a massive amount of glass break and then screaming, and then inhuman roaring.

That was a first, getting out of a building before all hell broke loose. She wanted to go help, but she barely had her feet under her at this point and would be useless. Rose stumbled down the stairs and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed Torchwood's number first.

"Hello? Torchwood?" She said earnestly, keeping her eyes on the building she'd just left.

"Wha, we cook good. What you want to oarder?"

"Who is this?" She asked.

"Great Wall Chinese Restaurant, you want eggroll?"

Rose checked the number on her phone. It said Torchwood. "No, thank you."

Maybe this was the future and Torchwood had changed their number? Mickey. Mickey never changed his number. It was the same in both worlds. Mostly because he didn't want to have to remember another one.

No busy signal that was a good sign.

"Hello?" said a little girl. "Mum, is that you?"

"Um, no, not anyone's Mum." Rose hung up.

Really Really far into the future? She looked around. The cars, She recognized some of them. Her dad had that convertible and it was only a few years old. It couldn't be that far off...

If she had looked up she would have noticed that there were no blimps in the sky.

She tried her dad, and the rest of others on her team- all wrong numbers, busy signals and answering machines for people she didn't know.. Why wasn't it working?  
>Frustrated she gave up and dialed 999 and wished the best to the police that would be sent. Hopefully one of them knew about UNIT.<p>

"State the nature of your emergency." a muffled voice asked.

" There something in the building! It's locked down and people are screaming!" She looked at the building she'd evacuated "Lazarus Labs, London. Oh! London, lovely."

"Is anyone hurt?" The operator asked.

At that point screaming people ran out of the building, she fled across the street.

" I'm going to say, yeah, someone is, and probably more if you don't get the police and UNIT here double quick."

"Help will be arriving immediately." The now frantic man on the line sputtered.

"Thank you." She hung up.

She was about to go back and help whoever was left in the building on her own when an ambulance came. Guess that was that.

The yellow band on her arm began to flash and tweet at her. She pressed the glowing light. A series of glyphs appeared in the air above her hand. Her instincts told her it was counting down.

She was approaching the ambulance when she saw something that caught her breath.

The Doctor was taking signals with his sonic around Lazarus's ambulance when his eyes landed on a disconguitous sight. Rose Tyler in nothing but a long shirt, before him. At least one of his hearts stopped beating and he froze. When he stepped forward, he saw her surprised eyes land on him. She mouthed his name, he blinked, and she faded away. He ran to the spot where she had been and found a dropped phone. Her dropped phone, he flipped it open and found a zoomed in picture of two waiters, Rose and himself.. Was that it? Was that seeing Rose Tyler again? Seconds and her phone as souvenir?

"That's it?"

"Doctor!" Tish insisted, we've got to catch him!

He pocketed the dark blue phone and went with them.

"What?" Martha asked behind him.

He slapped his face twice to try and focus. People would die if he didn't focus on this.

After the fight the Doctor let Tish and Martha go outside the church to discuss their near death experiences while he stayed inside.

"I'll be right there, just need a moment alone." He'd said. Martha had seemed to understand.

"Abigali! You come here right now. Right NOW you hear me!" He yelled at the air. His voice echoed in the chapel.

The small child appeared in a puff of smoke. "What is it now?" She said in imitation of him, rubbing her ear.

He held out Rose's phone. "Was that it, today? Your little trick?" He raged. Seeing her that one little bit was like an alcoholics first drink in a long time. It wasn't enough.

"What, you saw her?" The Doctor couldn't tell if Abigali was being serious.

"Yes, and then she disappeared before I could tell her truth or lie."

"Oh, well then," She jumped up to sit on the edge of a pew with her olive legs dangling.

"Is she still alive." He asked, eyes dark.

"Yes of course. If she'd died like that, what kind of fun would that be for me?" Abigali pouted, like the child she appeared to be. "The Pathos! The angst! The excitement, danger?"

The Doctor heard the doors creak. "Doctor?" Martha asked.

"Coming." He said. He returned the phone to his pocket and kept touching it as a reminder that Rose was coming back.

"Ta ta!" The trickster waved before becoming smoke once more.

Rose wiped her face as soon as she was back in the portal room. She'd seen the Doctor! Just a glimpse- but it was real.

"The hell was that?" She demanded of Horus. She then noticed that the aliens were surrounded by trigger happy nervous Torchwood Staff.

"You needed convincing that this is a serious matter." Horus was unapologetic even with 5 guns pointed just at him.

"Rose, you alright?" Mickey asked from behind the circle.

"Yeah," She wasn't about to get the aliens killed or start a war because she had had what felt like a life or death experience. She tried to remind herself that these aliens were trying to save reality, and therefore desperate.

"Stand down." Mickey commanded the staff. Guns reluctantly pointed downward.

"Trust me, I'm taking this entirely seriously. Did you come here, just to warn Earth then?" She asked, arms crossed.

"No," Horus said "We came to help you travel between so you will find those on the other side to stop the Sutekh and save the realities."

"Well, then," She gestured to the soldiers to file out of the room. " Let's get to it."

Mickey looked her up and down. "Lost your trousers?"

"And my shoes." Rose wiggled her bare feet at him and grinned widely. He hadn't seen that smile since she had been stuck here five years ago.

A/N: I promise the next chapter will have more Doctor/Rose interaction, but I needed this one to set things up so they can have a less conventional in fanfic reunion. This is so much fun to write.


	3. Chapter 3

**Command These Stones**

**By Spirit of Eowyn**

**Character/Pairing:** Doctor Rose  
><strong>Genre:<strong> Drama; Romance Angst Suspense  
><strong>Rating:<strong> PG-13 this chapter  
><strong>Spoilers:<strong> just for the season 3 episode '42'  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> All characters within belong to the BBC. This story is for fun and sharing but not for profit. All characters appearing in this story are fictiitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.  
><strong>Summary:<strong> The Doctor makes a Faustian deal with a member of the Trickster's brigade wherein he will see Rose.

**Chapter 3**

Rose had to wait a whole week to use the Dimension Cannon again. That's how long it took the Osarian to prove that the stars were indeed going out. She spent that time packing and lying to her mother about the safety of the trips, and was ready to go as soon as she got the call. Pete had insisted that she wait until a team could be put together to go with her, but Horus had insisted that there wasn't enough time as it would take months for other devices to be put together.

"I've waited long enough." She insisted.

Horus had just handed her the wrist jumper when a three dimensional map showed up above it.

He frowned. "It detected other chronus energy sooner than I thought."

Chronon energy was that gold stuff that the TARDIS's heart was filled with and released the background radiation onto anyone who had traveled in the TARDIS. Rose remembered asking the Doctor back when he was all ears why weren't they always being followed by a TARDIS detector, certainly someone had developed one, after their second trip to satellite five's Reality Shows. And then he had explained how archon energy was the fuel for all of their travels. Well, he hadn't as much explained as he had bragged about the superiority of it to fossil fuels and other lesser sources of energy. He had then told her, rather put out, that detecting the TARDIS outside of the vortex was impossible. Well, okay, Improbable. Satellite five had managed it, but was the exception.

Was that what it was tracking now? The shapes projected above the wristband looked like swirling circles, zooming into a red dot identified with "Bad Wolf."

She gasped. That was the best assurance she could have of her safety, or that it would return her back to him.

"See you around." She said with put on bravado and took a deep breath and tapped the engage button.

* * *

><p>After hanging in the nowhere of howling and cold, she found herself in a sweltering ship and immediately stripped off her dark purple jacket, tying it around her waist.<p>

She was putting her hair up in a ponytail when she looked out the nearest window and was momentarily blinded. The sun, they were far too close to the sun.

" 27. 06" blared over the intercom in a computer voice when she could start to see again, granted with purple spots on her retina. There must be some shielding on those windows, she thought, else seeing the too close sun with no atmosphere to protect from the radiation would have permanently blinded her. Impact where? She assumed the sun, nothing else was close enough, and unless there was some amazing future shielding of the TARDIS sort, impact with a star wouldn't what killed you, your metal ship and all nice soft organic compounds would vaporize from the heat of just being close. Was 27 minutes, seconds or hours? From what she had seen of outside it wasn't hours. Minutes she hoped.

Everybody Listen to me! Something has infected Cohen, we think... he killed Abby Learner. You mustn't go anywhere near him, is that clear?" A frightened female voice said over the intercom.

Rose looked up. Oh. Lovely.

"Understood Captain." A man's scratchy voice answered via the com.

"I'm on a ship hurtling towards the Sun, counting down to death with a monster on board," She muttered to herself then snorted. " Just the sort of place the Doctor might be."

Rose crept through an ajar metal door looking for a sane person to talk to and the insane infected to avoid. If the Doctor wasn't here she had just enough time for the jumper to charge up and escape anyways. 20 minutes. Just Barely. Assuming on some impressive shielding. She just had to survive that long.

"Make drinks, Sweep! kill me now!" Rose heard a sarcastic female voice and creeped into the room where it came from concealing herself from their view behind some machinery until she could gage their sanity and friendliness. She saw a man in a space suit with his arms stiffly outstretched like in a zombie movie.

"Burn with me!" He growled walking the thin woman with the pixie cut into a wall.

Rose picked up a hot but not scalding metal pipe. "Right, Infected voice." The man turned part way as he heard her, but was too late to avoid the pipe to the head that she was putting her full body into. He fell unconscious.

The young woman with cropped hair turned her surprised eyes to her. "Who are you?"

Rose dropped the pipe onto the unconscious form below her and held her hand out. "Rose, just looking for a man called the Doctor, don't suppose you've met him?

The girl frowned still in shock from her near death experience. "No, don't think so."

"All right then, let's get out of here before crazy wakes up." She gestured to the next metal door in the line. "Don't suppose we could lock this?"

IMPACT IN 24:51 boomed over the intercom.

Maybe 3 minutes had passed since the last announcement so it had to be minutes.

The girl shaken from her stupor followed. "Yeah, better." Once the door is locked they turn around to hear voices. "I'm Erina." She added.

"Nice to meet you. Best keep going though." Rose nodded to her before peering through the next open door.

"Doctor we're in Area 17." She heard a women say over the com. Doctor. Doctor! Was she hearing things now? Then she heard his voice. Not clearly but it was him!

"You've got to get to area one and reboot those engines." He sounded serious but not dying.

"Oh him." Erina said.

Rose turned to her.

"The Doctor." Erina remembered.

" Man in a suit, brown," Rose mimed his poofy hair. " hair?"

"Yeah, that's him. You with him?" Erina asked.

"Yes, yes. I'm with him." Rose stated with a modest smile. "Where is he?"

She was interrupted by a man's dying screams and the computer.

"Head Shield failing!" The computer blared.

"This way!" Erina insisted and they turned down a hall towards the interior of the ship.

" Doctor, we're stuck in an escape pod off of the area 17 air lock. One of the crew is trying to jettison us! You've got to help us." A woman screamed over the muffled intercom.

More screams.

Always reassuring.

"Area 17, we need to get to area 17!" Rose grabbed the girls arm, but found her instead leading her in another direction. His friend was off of 17, the Doctor would soon be there too. Rose had to see him!

They stopped at a metal door, and when Rose meant to follow her Erina said.

"I'll just be a moment."

"Mcdonald, Ashton is heading in your direction. He's been affected just like Cohen." The Doctor's voice was again on the intercom.

Oh. Lovely. Two crazy infected monsters who could be anywhere.

"Cohen is dead Doctor." Another man claimed over the intercom.

"Not, Cohen."Erina exclaimed from inside the room.

"Do you have what you need yet?" Rose asked from outside, antsy to keep moving, but she had an ally on this ship filled with probably paranoid people and was loathe to leave her behind.

Rose heard a distinct flushing sound. "Were you in the loo?" She asked indignantly.

Erina looked embarrassed. "Well, yeah, I nearly died back there- I shitted myself! It's not like we're going to be the ones to save the ship anyways."

Rose rolled her eyes as she asked. "Which direction to area 17?"

"Oh, you were going the right direction, it's the next room over. Loos a shortcut of sorts." Erina said.

" Martha, I'll save you! ," She heard the Doctor scream, only this time not over the intercom, meaning he was close.

"I'll save you!" He kept repeating and she could hear the panic in his voice.

When she saw him he was glued to a window, banging on it. She snuck behind him to see an escape pod drifting towards the sun a woman and a man staring back in horror and then defeat, and bile rose into her throat. They were dying.

The Doctor spun in a circle and babbled to himself, pulling at his hair. "Think think think!"

As much as she wanted to throw her arms around him, now wasn't the time. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if her selfishness meant someone died.

"Controls jammed!" He said he muttered slamming his arm into a wall, not seeing her.

Erina moved to the window and exclaimed. "Riley! Riley!"

The Doctor completely ignored her.

She remembered her engineering classes and Torchwood protocols. "Shouldn't there be a backup override somewhere?" Rose answered.

"Override! Yes!" Still he was caught up in his thoughts, might even think it was his own idea. He cheered "Brilliant!" He finally turned to give her, the voice with the brilliant idea a high five, and his eyes went wide. "Rose," He breathed. and his permagrin appeared. "You always know the right thing to say-"

It looked like he was going into reunion mode, arms wide, and while she wanted that, soo much she couldn't let him be distracted, not now. She pushed her emotions aside like she was taught in Torchwood training. Focusing all on the needs at hand.

"The Pod." She reminded him.

He slapped his face. 'The pod! Of course!"

He grabbed her hand and dragged her with him into the next room. His hand in hers felt like home. "Missed you!" She breathed as they jumped through a door.

He turned back with a soggy grin. "Me too." He tore his eyes away and started searching.

IMPACT in 17:05.

"What are you looking for?" She asked.

"Space suit, should be orange, manual override on these things is on the outside of the ship."

Rose found one in a cupboard and handed it towards him. "Thanks." He answered.

Rose as an engineer, was disgusted. "Who puts the manual override of spaceship on the outside?"

She grabbed the helmet and they were running back to area 17. If he was most people, one of her team she'd tell him not to, that it was too late and he'd just die along with them. But he wasn't just anybody. He was the Doctor, and she had seen him do more impossible things. He wouldn't throw himself into an impossible death. Not with her there still to protect.

Seeing him in that orange suit again though, sent a wave of agonizing deja vu. Last time she saw him like this, he nearly ended up dying, and them separated forever.

"I want that suit back in one piece." She wiped her tearing eyes, and then kissed his forehead before handing him the helmet.

"Yes, Ma'm." He met her eyes seriously. "I'll come back for you."

Her stomach fluttered. _F_o_r you._

He was in the compression chamber as she watched him go. She waved at him.

He made it back last time, she been told that he'd died but he didn't. He'll come back, she promised herself and he left the ship.

He had to. She couldn't let herself think of there being any other alternative.

**Author's Notes:** Sorry for taking so long, but I spent the last month seeing less fun Doctors. Betaed by my husband. Not how you pictured their reunion, yeah  
>? I wanted to be different. :)<p> 


	4. Chapter 4: 10 pages

**Command These Stones**

**Chapter 4 **

( a/n:Sorry if this gets confusing. I have no beta reader. L Plus I watched '42' at least 10 times to get all the dialogue and timing right, but of course changed parts because of Rose's presence. I edited it over three weeks which is why it has taken so long. Sorry!)

"Yes!" Rose jumped up in the air and cheered when the pod started to return to the ship. She shook the nervous energy from her arms as she prepared for the Doctor to return to her, and have that proper reunion.

Her luck didn't seem that good, when instead he stumbled into the air hatch and leaned against the wall.

"You alright?" She asked.

"Alive, it's alive." He shook in terror and fell to the floor.

IMPACT IN 8:59

She followed him and rested her arms around him, tilted his head so their eyes met.

" What do you need? Look at me. I can help."

His eyes were squeezed shut. "Doctor?"

He crawled away from her. " Rose, Just stay away from me!" He ground out, shaking, his eyes opened slightly but instead of brown she saw bright light, like his eyelids had become the window covers of the ship- the same blinding light the sun radiated.

As Rose stood up, she heard someone call to the Doctor as he struggled to regain control and close his eyes. No. He was infected like the monster who had attached Erina.

"What happened?" another woman's voice asked but Rose kept her eyes on the Doctor. Would he be lost too?

"It's your fault Captain Mcdonnel." The Doctor hissed.

Rose tuned out the conversation behind her, already terrified of what the Doctor would say. Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest but she managed to get her question out.

" You still in there, Doctor?"

He nods and curls in on himself more.

"We'll just get you back to the TARDIS, Yeah?" Rose tried to be reassuring.

"Can't get to it, too hot." the dark skinned woman, Martha objected.

"Stuck here when all hell breaks loose." Rose said. Well wasn't that just the TARDIS's standard operating procedure.

"You mined that sun for cheap fuel, You should have scanned for life!" The Doctor screamed.

Rose's eyes widened as she put the clues together. It went beyond anything she had ever learned in physics, but after walking fish, and trees what couldn't be sentient?

"Doctor, what are you talking about?" Martha asks.

"It's alive a living organism." He gasps.

If it was alive, that light was in fact the sun, inside his head, and probably the others- would the Doctor lose himself and start killing too? There was nothing in her training or travels that provided a solution. Or rather one she was willing to accept. She would not kill him. Far stronger than gelf, no psychograft- how did you bid the sun goodbye once it decided to possess you?

"Now it's screaming! " The Doctor moaned.

The others denied his claims. She positioned herself between the Doctor and the others as he went on another anti-human rant reminiscent of her first Doctor. The Doctor's anger didn't scare her.

"Rose," He cried. " Need a stasis chamber! Below –200 degrees freeze it out of me." He screamed again. "It'll use me to kill you if you don't-"

She knew the horror and fear in his eyes now wasn't for his own life but for hers.

She sniffed and nodded before turning to the others.

"Stasis chamber." She ordered the captain who jumped at her authoritative tone.

With Martha, she lifted the prone Doctor.

"This way." The captain said in a panic.

IMPACT in 7:30

She tried not to focus on his screams but on their destination. –200F, the Doctor knows what he's doing. Martha moved to the controls once he was on what looked like an MRI bed. Narrow with a pillow but not made for sleeping.

"You'll kill him." The captain argued from the door.

There was always someone arguing with the Doctor's plans or it wouldn't be his plans. Daft, but they worked. All the same fear clamped her throat.

"If he said he can survive it then he can." Martha stated. So she believed in him too, the Doctor's new companion.

"Ten seconds that is all I'll be able to take." The Doctor said, sweating profusely. She could see him losing himself again. "Burning me up! " He shook violently. " I can't control it. Ah! If we don't get rid of it I could kill you, I could kill you all." He went into convulsions and his back arched.

The Doctor had enough guilt. "No, you won't." Rose took his clammy hand. "I won't let you." She promised.

He squeezed her hand past the point of pain and she bit her lip to keep from showing it.

"I'm scared. I'm so scared." He cried.

The Doctor had never said those words before, even when they were about to die.

"I know," Rose kissed his forehead " but you've got to hold on. Hold On!"

"It's burning through me." He said

She heard Martha waste time with words about his saving her life, and cut her off.

"Do it!" Rose ordered. Martha looked offended but pressed the button. Couldn't she see he didn't have time for monologues or final goodbyes?

"Regeneration," he muttered as his head was moved into the machine.

"I know, but you're not going to die. Not today." Rose promised as she did with scared soldiers. It might not always be the truth but it was always what they needed to hear.

Then his screams began as his face began to freeze and she covered her ear with her free hand, as her own tears fell silently. The screams turned to disconsolate sobs and then back to screams.

Then it stopped as did the machine.

IMPACT IN 4:47

So it didn't seem likely that any of them would survive.

"Give back what they took!" The Doctor turned to Martha before going back to screaming.

Martha looked confused.

" Sun particles in the fuel, release then and we might live- go!" Rose translated and gestured for the Captain and Martha to go.

"But," Martha began.

"I've got this. Red button starts blue stops, yeah?" Rose said quickly.

"Rose, you're Rose." Martha said as if she just got what the Doctor had said nearly ten minutes ago. Bit slow.

"Yes. Go Martha, save us all. I've got this." Rose said

Martha turned and ran, grabbing the Captain on her way out as the Doctor began-

" Can't hang on-"

IMPACT in 4: Oh 8

The machine turned off and would not turn back on. Probably the Sun's fault. Damn.

"Rose, you've got to go-" He begged.

"Not leaving you, not again." She assured him even though she could and the part of her that was all instinct insisted that she press the button on her wrist that would take her back home, where it wasn't a burning furnace about to be melted to plasma. Flight when the fight was impossible to win. But she couldn't leave him, not when he was dying. Her mom would worry but maybe she'd just assume she had found the Doctor and stayed with him never to return, but safe. And wasn't that what she was doing now? Except for the safe part. Being with the Doctor was never safe, but after all he had done, how could she leave him to do this on his own?

" Not like any other part of this ship is safer." Rose joked.

" I, I can't kill YOU! NO!" He cried, rolling off the bed.

She caught him before he met the floor and lowered him down as best she could. "shh. I've got you." She held him from behind and gently put him into a neck lock she would never use.

"You won't." She promised. Just four more minutes, and I wouldn't let his last be agony and guilt over me.

"Can't fight it." He shuddered in my arms and his voice changed, grew deeper, no longer his own. " Burn with me!"

She held on tighter, and saw the reflection of his glowing eyes on the metal floor. Sweat was not making this easier. Her knees felt like cooked meat on the floor. She pulled him up into a standing position, and then tripped him at the knee causing him to fall to the floor. The impact knocked him out.

IMPACT in 1:21

"Life support systems reaching critical." The computer blared.

Rose sniffled. They were going to die. Bad Wolf had just led her here to she could provide him some comfort at his death. She rolled his unconscious form over and cradled his head in her lap.

"Love you." She pecked his lips.

IMPACT IN 1: 06 COLLISSION ALERT COLLISION ALER-

He screamed awake and his eyes turned back to normal.

If Rose had believed in fairy tales she might have thought her kiss and words had saved him, but since she didn't anymore they must have released the fuel in time. She held him.

**We're going to live, probably,** she thought. Within another minute he was holding her back, but breathing hard. When his eyes opened he searched her face.

"Are you all right?" He asked breathily.

Rose choked back a sob, and nodded. He looked relieved for a few moments then pushed up to a kneeling position and asked.

"Did I say anything... weird? To you? Rose? Did I hurt you? What did I say to you while I was gone?"

" It's okay, you weren't in control of yourself." She soothed.

That didn't seem to help at all. as his eyes widened and his voice went squeaky. " Rose-"

She ran her hand through his sopping hair and shook her head.

He held onto her tighter and for reasons unknown but not unwelcome, kissed her full on the mouth.

*DW DW DW DW DW DW

Seeing the shipmates hug, reminded Martha of her own. Was the Doctor even still alive let alone himself?

"Doctor."

Martha eagerly ran for the Doctor to thank him and hug him out of sheer joy to be alive but found him kissing Rose. Well no more need to wonder what kind of relationship he had had with her. He smiled at Rose and lead her towards the TARDIS. Did he even notice Martha from across the room? She had almost died and he didn't so much as say

"Sorry for putting your life in danger because I'm a horrid designated driver."

She followed them back towards the ship and found Riley behind her. Good old Riley.

"This is not your ship!" Riley exclaimed.

"The Doctors, but we travel." Martha explained.

"In a bitty blue box?" Riley wiped his sweaty hair back. His friend just laughed.

Martha looked back at the TARDIS. With Rose back would the Doctor even keep her around? If they were in there did she even want to see the Doctor smitten?

"We can't just leave you here with no fuel-" Martha turned to what was left of the ship's crew.

"We sent out an official mayday," Erina answered, entering the room. "the authorities will pick us up soon enough."

Riley just stared intently at Martha.

"Where is Rose? And the Doctor?" Erina asked politely.

"Back on the ship," Martha began and took a deep breath before continuing. " where I should be heading myself."

"Ohh! Wait." Riley grabbed her hand before she could open the door. "You're off then?"

Martha nodded.

"No chance I'll see you again?" Riley's voice was hopeful.

"Not really." His head fell. " It was nice. Not dying, with you. I reckon you'll find someone worth believing in."

"I already did." He said.

And she kissed him. As she did a plan bloomed in her mind. A solution.

"Wait right here." She grabbed his shirt. " I'll be right back."

Martha opened the doors slowly.

"I missed you." The Doctor confessed.

Martha stood taller, and was about to answer when it became clear he wasn't talking to her.

"Me too." Rose said.

"Will you stay?" Martha never thought she'd hear the Doctor sound so pathetically needy. Sounded a bit like her father with his tramp girlfriend.

"If you want." Martha swore Rose batted her eyes at him.

The Doctor was grinning manically. "I'd like that."

"Was that really you, back in London at the ambulance?" She asks.

Martha crossed her arms. So that was why he had been acting funny!

"Yeah, and I," he scratched the side of his ear "know how you got here and why."

"You do?" Rose sounded confused. "So you're doing something about it, then?"

It was the Doctors turn to look a bit confused. "Yeah." He cleared his throat.

"About the beach," The Doctor looked down nervously. "Rose, Rose Tyler I-"

Martha shut the door loudly behind her so they'd notice they weren't alone. "Doctor. We need to talk." She announced.

"I'm. I'm-" He tilts his head at Rose.

"Right now." Martha insisted.

Rose looked between the two of them. "I'll just go freshen up." She backed towards the door that led into the interior of the TARDIS. Rose looked pretty sweaty from the burning ship. Martha hadn't seen a mirror in an hour and imagined that she wasn't much better.

Martha reprimanded him. "You went back for that genie creature, didn't you Doctor?"

"Well," He turned away from her.

"You gave into the creature that you'd told me was dangerous and never gives you what you really want. 'Don't talk to it Martha!' You said." Martha said, walking towards him.

" You don't know what it's like to lose everything... you don't know." He stops and sits on the jump seat. His eyes looked older and darker.

"Fine then. I'm sure I don't understand. Human me. But-I don't want to watch her die for," Martha sputtered and waved her hands about " Whatever it is you think you're accomplishing. And if you get to keep those kinds of secrets that put peoples lives at stake, then I get to bring Riley with us."

"Riley?" The Doctor asked.

She was ready for him to protest. "Riley, who nearly fell into the sun with me." She crossed her arms and leveled at glare at him.

"Right, Riley. Good chap." The Doctor's eyes showed he could barely remember who that was and that made her angrier. Did he even care?

"I'm not being anyone's third wheel." Martha muttered under he breath. She refused to go back to that, having to deal with it with her college roommate.

"Oh, It's Mickey all over again. " The Doctor bemoaned, leaning back against the console.

"Who?"

DWDWPOVSWITCHDWDW

"Never mind," the Doctor assured her and winced as she took that as a dismissal.

"I'll get him then." Martha stormed out the door. He didn't like hurting her feelings.

If he can't even be honest about his more minor past mistakes to Martha who he doesn't ...His mind deleted the last word. He had programmed himself to edit his own thoughts for revealing weaknesses, a skill most Timelords learned since their most conscious thoughts were generally out there for every other Timelord to hear. Secret crushes were nonexistent on Gallifrey. Weaknesses, emotions that were prone to make one irrational and illogical were to be hidden from the disdain of your fellows. Some of his people found this reassuring that there were no secrets among them, but for Individuals like the Doctor it felt invasive. With hundreds of years of practice at shoving emotional weaknesses asside, was he doomed to accidentally kill by lying to the woman who meant everything to him?

His guards were to protect him from self-destruction, especially illogical, avoidable self inflicted death. Losing her once had nearly ended him with all of those guards up. His self -preservation sector kept objecting and putting up fail-safes against verbal admission of weakness, anything that would solidify the certainty that her loss would break him irrevocability, wherein regeneration couldn't wipe it away. That same sector insisted on posting articles on the short lifespan of humans and the fatality of attaching oneself to one. It listed all the other species that would be better. Was 50 years tops worth thousands of years of pain? Logically not.

"Here it is," Martha came back in with Riley.

"It's bigger on the inside." Riley said, wiping his hands on his pants.

His familiar words seemed to set off a reset button for the Doctor. " Is it?" He spread his arms wide. "Well, what do you know, it is! Welcome to the good ship TARDIS."

The Doctor held out his hand to shake. Riley shook it.

"Come on," Martha said as she pulled Riley down the hall.

He watched them go.

Rose was here and in danger because of him, but how was that so much different from when they were just traveling together. Martha had almost died today too. But if Rose's time was shorter than predicated by being a human, would he leave her thinking that he... was indifferent? That she didn't mean as much to him as he did to her? Was that fair to her? It didn't change his choices, but if she had the courage to tell him on the beach, then didn't he owe it to her to be at least that brave? That if they had similar life spans that he would choose to spend the rest of his with her? Even though it would bring up all of the pain of those he had lost. His whole family. His wife. When he had told Rose that he could never love a human because of their lifespan he had spoken from experience, when he had said it was the curse of the timelords he had lied. It was the curse of this timelord. Watching those you care about withering and dying when you have to live on alone. Others timelords could just see other species die like humans would as an old cat they played with. Amusing but limited. But not him, not anymore. At first he had seen Susan's teachers as annoying stray cats that he put up with for her sake. But then he got attached, saw those curious timelord looking humans who demanded no inner thoughts of him and bravely lived their lives despite how easily they died and it was no longer ok. He started traveling with kids- kittens and sent them home before he could start seeing their inevitable death in their future. Rose had been different. He had come to need her.

**Just imagine that happening to someone you love.**

The Doctor didn't need to imagine.


	5. Chapter 5

**Command These Stones**

**Chapter 5**

By SpiritofEowyn.

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Doctor Who(TM) I just play with it.

A/N: Sorry this took so long! I'm still not perfectly pleased with it, but it's about time you got a new chapter. It's going to start going faster and more deadly for the Doctor and... oh, well you'll see. Thank you all for your reviews! They keep me coming back to work on this.

For Rose, her old room on the TARDIS was like returning to her old home. She sat on the bed, after having picked out an outfit from her closet that was a bit baggier but wasn't dusty like she had expected. There was that photo they had taken on Calison Five, that she had started to forget. Had she really worn that much mascara years ago? The far wall was covered in photos in the shape of a heart. There was her old favorite jacket. And her union jack shirt! Oh that brought back memories. It all did. Most of them good.

It had been so long, this journey to get back here. She came to be with the Doctor again, but now what? If Martha hadn't returned the Doctor would have told her what he was going to tell her on the beach. She felt sure of it. She thought he'd meant to say he felt the same way, but it needed saying. Maybe he would have given her a side hug and told her he loved her too, like a friend. Or would he tell her that that was nice, and "Quite right" that she should love him since he was the awesome timelord with the huge ego but that she was an inferior species, you stupid ape. Or that he thought of her like a daughter. Euw. A child who couldn't comprehend or ever be his equal. Or... a pet. he had had. Ugh. Would they go back to that awkward friends but we're kidding ourselves stage? He had kissed her, that should count for something, right? And it hadn't been a friendly kiss.

A knock on my door brought my attention to him. Standing there in the doorway, looking gorgeous and that hair!

"Hello." He greeted.

"Hi." I stood up, and my stomach fluttered nervously

He looked around her room. "Kept it just how you left it."

" So many memories in this room. Although, you could have left it cleaner." I teased.

He smiled back. "Oh, well, it's your room, why should I?"

"I thought she'd at least keep it from getting dusty." I brushed my hands off on my trousers.

"Yeah." He scuffed his feet on the floor. "So, we've got a new passenger-"

"I wouldn't call me new-"

"Oh, I meant, oh what was his name," He snapped his fingers. "Riley, Riley. Gonna have to remember that,"

"Riley?" I asked.

"From the burning ship."

"Oh, okay." Rose barely remembered him with all of the death and near death and burning.

"Missed you, know. Not your mother though. " He smiled gently.

"How could you not miss the nagging and beans on toast, oh and the best cuppa ever." I walked towards him.

"Oh, Jackie! You know you started a bad precedent Ms. Tyler." The Doctor pointed his finger at me accusingly.

"How so?"

"Before you, there were no mothers on my ship, and no slaps! First night I met," He tilted his head towards the hall. " her mother I got slapped and threatened! Can you imagine how horrifying that was?"

I laughed, then wondered. He'd been so close to Sarah Jane, and then to me, was flirty standard as a companion of the Doctors? I imagined him kissing her. Maybe he had earned the slap. "Did you earn your slap?"

"No, well. I am, well I did put both of her daughters in danger but thats not my fault really. The one was already in danger... " He rambled.

"Seems we've got a lot of catching up to do." I smiled.

"Want a cuppa?" He asked. "good for the synapses."

"And here I thought we might have tea in the kitchen." Rose commented.

"Oh, no" His nose wrinkled. "Too domestic."

She laughed.

We sat on the roof of the TARDIS staring at the remains of a supernova. Pink, blue and yellow clouds of gas whizzed by and above them, what Rose would mistake for a very vivid milky way, gleamed.

He had had to promise her that the TARDIS had them in an air bubble when he'd asked her to follow him when he jumped out. They had floated up. Well, in space it was a relative term, up, but in reference to the usual method in relation to the outside of the TARDIS.

The Doctor had agonized over where to have tea, which was excessively domestic as it was.

"It's beautiful." She breathed.

"Is it? Didn't really notice last time, but I suppose it is." He took a long sip, and kept his tone casual. "Still hate it."

"How could you hate this?" She asked waving her hand out. "It's not like this star has offended you, and you even promised this one wasn't ever sentient. What could it have done to you?"

There it was." It ran out too quickly. It wasn't enough."

Her eyes turned searching. "I blew it up. Thats the sort of thing I'm capable of. Blowing up innocent stars, without caring what it would do to the people in the system next star over."

She put a comforting arm around his shoulders. And this is who she was. He just told her he'd hurt an entire species and she was worried about him. "Rose you make we want impossible things, and to be a better man. This whole time without you, I've kept going in your name, because I knew you wouldn't want me to give up. Took on a companion when it became clear I was... not good on my own." He laughed self deprecatingly. " Poor Martha has heard nothing but Rose this, Rose that."

"You've made me better too you know. I've got my Masters degree. Me! A girl from the Estates. Everyone at Torchwood keeps looking at me like I'm some kind of expert!" She looked up at me with a grin. " It's funny because whenever I wanted to just give up because it was too hard, or I seemed to think I wasn't enough. I remembered what you taught me."

" Finally stopped wandering off?" I tapped her nose.

She laughed. Oh how I loved her laugh.

"No, To never give up, to stand up to the bullies and evils out there, and do the right thing even when everyone else is running away."

"With all the running away we did?" I teased, but really I was proud.

"Even still. Was this the star?"

That was my Rose. I took her hand and nodded.

"All I needed was thirty more seconds." I blinked to keep the wetness in my eyes at bay.

I counted to 75 as she took a deep breath and looked out at the star. Maybe she already knew.

Her eyes met mine, serious and terrified. "To say what?"

The elephant in the room since she returned. He couldn't lie, couldn't brush this off. Rose was asking and he had to answer. I downed the rest of my cup and tossed it outside the TARDIS's bubble, gathering my courage.

"that, that I love you."

I could hear her breath hitch, and eyes begin to water. "Love, like a friend...?"

"No, love, like, like if I was human I'd give you a ring, and a morgage, children, family, and kiss you a lot and ask you to stop flirting with others who wanted to keep you forever, and those who didn't." I rambled.

The most beautiful smile broke out on her face. " Okay."

I kissed her and wrapped my arms around her as she did to me. It was wonderful, and brain numbing.

Eventually we came up for air. Well, she came up for air and I needed a moment to process it all.

"But I'm not human. I can't give you most of the things you want and deserve." I felt obligued to tell her.

She paused. "Then I don't want it, Doctor. I just want you."

"Now, now you just want me, but someday when you clock goes tick tick.." I tried to keep my voice light.

"I'll still be okay." She insisted. Bless her.

" I want you to be more than okay. I want you to be blissfully happy and safe. It's why I never mentioned it before. But no worries, I'm that selfish to keep you with me for as long as you'll stay." I pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. "Because staying or going I'm still going to love you Rose Tyler. And I can't see myself living without you." Or beyond you either but he didn't need to say that. I mean it wasn't a lie, persay. One might say that is was intrinsically implied.

"Well, then you'd best get used to the idea that I'm going to stay forever." She pushed off the side and floated down to the door.

He tried not to think how different their forevers were, and instead just followed her down.

*  
>Abigali was in the great white nothingness that the rest of the trickster's brigade resided when not on the physical plane. It was so bright as to hurt the eyes, and depth perception was a joke. She sat in a large plush chair that was a dark red. Everything else furniture wise in this area was black. Her master had no sense of beauty.<p>

She would eat or drink, only they didn't do that anymore. Deviant timelines were their source of energy, but didn't taste like anything. Might as well be a creepy Weeping Angel for all the life they had. She shuddered at the thought of it. Time meant nothing either. She had promised an eternity of servitude in exchange for her life when the rest of her ship, was doomed to die, and stay dead during The War. She had seen it coming and saw no probability of escape, only different deaths.

Granted, being mortal she had had no concept of how long, and dull Eternity was.

Dox appeared and sat in front of her. Like the rest of the brigade he was ugly. He was a traditionalist and wore a white robe with only a ghastly mouth showing a flat pastry circle of a face devoid of features. Really how did one even look at it?

"You're looking at the true creator of chaos." Dox bragged.

"Brain parasite? Really? That's your big plan to create chaos?" She mocked. "Child's play." She pointed back at her childlike body. "And I should know."

" An American president will lose his mind, and the planet will be ruled by evil and humans will never reach the stars!" Dox argued.

" Oh, yes, By the way, it's not going to work." She stood up. "Foresaw it."

It hissed. "You lie."

"Your plans are all so one dimensional. Dull, ineffective. This is why I will succeed and you'll just keep getting your ass handed to you by an old human and her teenaged apprentices." She turned away from him, eager to be alone.

Krislok appeared. He was extremely short, and ugly, but at least he didn't match the background. He hobbled away from them. Coward.

"Going to tell Him that you're helping the timelord." Dox said. " Be the end of you monster!"

"phff. Helping? Monster?' Abigali turned around and gave her most innocent chillike smile.

"It is being honest, no one dies! Nothing changes. You betray us!" Dox argued.

She smirked and stalked in front of him, looking up at where eyes would be with her own dark ones. "Yet. No one has died, _yet._ But you get ready Dox, oh just you wait and see. I keep my promises. More chaos, more timelines changed than you could imagine, and no way out. Watch and learn how it's done."


	6. Chapter 6

**Version 2.0 (Edited a part in the middle, that got changed when I cut a whole section and moved it to chapter 7, which was vital it stayed in the same phrasing. Opps! thanks for helping me catch that issue, careful readers!)**

**Command These Stones... Chapter 6**

by SpiritofEowyn

(I don't own Doctor Who if you didn't know. This is just for fun and practice)

The Doctor was doing something mundane and human, while the real humans slept. He was planning for the future in thinking about it made his skin crawl. It wasn't what he did. But it was now. He was taking no chances this time around with Rose. He found a planet without strife, a planet where no one could die, well no one human anyways. Populated with too many nanogenes. He even walked about the world to give it a test run, lots of happy people with happy thoughts. It ruined the thrill of surprise but he could live without that if it kept her alive and with him. He could live without a lot of things for that,and it wasn't like it was forever, or really even all that long for a Timelord. Best to not think too much on that either.

Seven hours later the humans woke up, ate and would be turning to him for entertainment.

He could hear them coming up the stairs towards him with his superior Timelord hearing.

"He really mentioned me while I was gone?" Rose asked.

" A lot." There was irritation in her voice.

"It's just, he's never done that before, talk about past companions."

"Rose Tyler would know what to do. " Martha imitated him badly. He hadn't been whining. "Am I chopped liver for being new?"

Rose laughed.

" First time on the ship he told me about you and told me that I wasn't replacing you, quite emphatically."

"That must of been obnoxious!" He could hear Rose shaking her head. "All of time and space to see but you have to deal with a moody driver who whines. My friend Sharlene got a ride home from a bar once from a bloke who spent the time complaining that her friend hadn't come with her and he'd really wanted to spend time with her instead..."

"You know I thought I'd hate you if we ever met, but you're not bad."

Rose clearly didn't know what to say to that. Luckily they were in the console room by then.

"Well, where are we off to today?" Rose asked him.

"Nowhere." He responded, shifting from foot to foot, hands in pockets.

"Nowhere?" Martha said.

"Indeed," The Doctor said leaning by the door, opening it up. " for we are already there. Look for yourself."

Martha grinned at Riley, and led him out. "This is my favorite part. Come on."

Rose grabbed his hand and he followed suit.

The humans let out rather awed and impressed sounds. That was one of his favorite things about traveling with humans. New eyes, curious and excited about new things without the instant need to experiment with it. The landscape of the planet was brightly colored beyond what was usual with brown cottages up ahead with red and white swirly tiles and a dark brown waterfall just beyond.

"Welcome to the continent of Dulcedetierra. Or as its more commonly referred to in the Great human Empire- Candyland."

"I thought it was just a legend," Riley murmured.

The Doctor broke off a flower and unwound it, broke off a piece handed it to Rose and sucked on his.

" Mmn fresh blueberry flavored genius." He said.

"It's eatable?" Rose gasped.

He nodded and thrilled at her joy.

"grows that way, and apparently healthy for humans, lots of vitamins."

Rose spun around with a big grin. " Just when I thought I'd seen it all- there is a Willy Wonka garden!"

"Or Sugar Rush!" The Doctor bumped into her.

"What?" Rose asked.

"Oh, blimely, just wait five or so years, then you'll know what I mean." That was the problem with knowing all of space and time, something like five years difference blurred in the grand scheme of things.

Martha picked up a flower that was in the shape of a large jammy dodger. Riley picked the toffee bark off the side of a tree.

"What is that brown stuff?" Martha asked as they sat on a sour patch grassy hill, their feet near the dark brown river. "Waste?"

Rose swiped her hands into the river, sniffed the contents and then licked them off her hand.

"Dark chocolate milk?" Rose answered.

The Doctor grabbed her hand and sucked one of her fingers then smacked his lips thoughtfully.

"Yes, "

Martha glared at him.

"What?" The Doctor responded. " I had to confirm her substance identification. Scientific Rigor and all that."

Rose laughed. "This Doctor is rather orally fixated." Rose explained. "Licking walls, and blood for science. His last regeneration wasn't like this at all."

" Yeah, I know." Martha blushed a little.

Oh no no no. "Gingerbread village this way," he grabbed Rose's arm dragging her back onto the path. Pip pip." He thought he knew what Martha was going to say and he'd rather not be forced to be honest about it just yet. It was such a sweet day. No need for anything bitter or sour.

Martha and Riley followed.

" Actually edible homes! Aren't you excited? And-"

"Doctor, what are you avoiding?" Rose asked.

" Avoiding? I'm not-" His hearts thumped harder as he realized his mistake. " Actually I'm avoiding everything, have been most of my life." He squeaked, and ran faster. No runs against running away.

The Doctor barely dodged a young girl with rainbow colored hair driving a candy made race car that spit out sparkly sprinkles onto them.

"Outta the way!" Another yelled as they zoomed past.

" oh my- was that strawberry shortcake?" The girl's dress looked like a poofy strawberry with a whipped cream hat.

"Looked like, I loved that show as a kid. Adventures..."

Martha rolled her eyes.

"You ramble like this when you're nervous." Rose continued.

He was able to deny it and shook his head, only to turn it into a nod." Yes, sometimes, BUT, Oh, look, edible ball bearings!" The Doctor pointed. "I'll tell you later."

" Does anyone live here?" Martha asked when they reached the gingerbread village.

He tapped his knuckles against one of the walls. " in these? No purely for eating, elsewhere yes."

"I told you I saw adults." One child said to another.

" nuh uh."

" uh huh."

The children scurried off.

A large banner hung across ginger buildings that announced the annual festival celebrating independence of Sugar Cube corner from the mainland. There were crowds around what looked like a regular carnival with games and rides, except it looked like it was straight out of a children's show. Children were eating their way through house sized Cupcakes.

Riley and the Doctor wasted an hour playing games and trying to outdo each other with winning prizes for their respective dates. They ran a gauntlet that looked like the Japanese game show Takeshi's Castle only everything was made of food. The Doctor won. Riley won the pie eating contest. The girls tied for their run through the gauntlet.

"Did I really just go through a Redvine?" Martha exclaimed, while Rose tried to rinse off the caramel she had fallen into from her hair.

They laughed.

"Bit full.." Rose covered her stomach.

" Didn't think I'd tire of sweets so quickly." Martha agreed and groaned.

Instead of replying Riley gave the women a skeptical look and grabbed a candied apple from a tree and munched on it.

" No matter, 8 story slides and rides and ball pits to work off that sugar rush."

They passed a few young children who were playing tag as they moved through a large ball pit.

"Have you seen any other adults around here besides the vendors?" Martha asked Rose.

"Now that you mention it, no." She answered.

"Doctor have you taken us to the equivalent of a babysitting planet?" Martha asked, hands on hips.

"According to legend, yes, but I never got the chance to come here as a kid, rich kid place." Riley said, and then tripped and landed face first in the balls. Rose bounced on a trampoline back into the ball pit.

The Doctor glared at him.

Just then a child screamed and a puddle of blood slid down the bottom of a bright yellow slide near them. A child's body with a bashed in head came after.

Rose stifled a cry and waded towards the child, Martha sped past her, and started to check the child's vitals just in case. She shook her head and cursed.

"Who would do this?" Rose asked as she knelt by what looked like a boy.

" in such a happy place." Riley shook his head.

Rose and Martha glared at him.

The Doctor just stared at the child and up the slide.

"Lets move along." The Doctor said.

"And not stop children from dying?" Rose asked. " I don't for a minute think that was an accident."

He was about to tell her it would be all right when gold sparkles wrapped up the boy and disappeared, leaving a healthy body behind. The child shook, and got back up shakily.

" You were dead." Martha looked startled.

"Yeah, " The young boy who looked about a fluffy seven cried. " It was worse than I thought it'd be."

Rose turned to the Doctor. " nanogenes?"

"Yeah." He said.

" Who did that to you?" Martha asked, as the wound had clearly been no accident.

"Another boy, I didn't even know his name." He cried.

"Ah, well, it's what you do with violent children, send them here to get it out of their system." Riley said.

"What?!" Both women yelled at Riley like he was defending Hitler.

Riley continued with his common, for his time frame, point of view. " Its not like they stay dead, too many nano genes aren't there? But the kids get sick of killing and it's all better. It's just not so pretty to look at."

Ah, 54th century people, they had such different morals from those from the 21st. The Doctor thought. At the same moment he blessed them, 51st century morals had kept Captain Jack from becoming competition when it came to Rose.

"They still feel it." He replied, and the women turned to him in relief.

And the world righted itself as yet again the Doctor was the most impressive man in the TARDIS.

"Which is why we have got to stop this." Rose stood up determined.

"What, find all the violent children and send them somewhere where people stay dead?" Riley challenged.

He had a point.

"Well, I'm not going to stand here and just let this continue."

"I'm with Rose." Martha said.

Lovely, they had become a team over deciding to die for a bunch of homicidal children. What fun. It wasn't that he didn't agree with them, but Riley had a good point. He was excellent with words but he didn't think he could convince a bunch of homicidal youngsters to stop just because it was wrong.

"I told you I found some adults!" They heard, and found themselves being surrounded by children above them of all different ages.

"I've never killed an adult before, do you think it's much different?" A girl with pale blue eyes asked another curiously.

Damn, the Doctor had wanted a nice sweet, safe adventure with Rose. He'd even done the human thing and planned ahead for it. It didn't look like they were going to be able to get out of this without killing a bunch of children, and maybe even seeing Rose's eyes go lifeless.

"It's like Children of the Corn..." Martha mutters and backs up towards the rest of their group. The children all looked so harmless except for the red sticky stuff on their hands.

The boy who had died hid behind Rose and whined. "I just came for the sweeeets!"

"It might seem fun to kill, but it's not so much fun to die." The Doctor said to his audience. It was worth a go.

"Yeah, but I want to be the first one to kill them!" Another whined.

There were various sounds of agreement.

"Oh!, Lets play hide and seek!" An adolescent boy suggested.

Once the Used to be Dead boy seemed certain he wasn't their main target, he ran into the crowd and past them.

"Lovely." Rose muttered. "Now I feel like what Dorothy would of if the munchkins hadn't been friendly."

"Oh! Yeah!" They mostly agreed.

"Hide and seek?" Martha asked.

"How humans trained their children to hide, and hunt in the old days." The Doctor instructed. "No, no this is all human."

"Gee, thanks."

"But you're only supposed to kill each other, not adults thats how this works!" Riley pleaded.

" You hide, and if we find you, we'll kill you." The oldest said reasonably.

"3 minutes. Yes. We'll let you go for 3 minutes." Another said as if they were being generous.

"And if we don't want to play?" Riley asked.

"Then we just kill you here." The eldest shrugged.

Martha covered her mouth and looked like she was about to be sick.

"Oi! But you have to close your eyes. It isn't fair otherwise." Rose stutters.

"Yeah, We promise." Another said.

He could smell the panic and horror from his human companions. Battle was one thing, but against those whom they were biologically programmed to protect was something else.

The Doctor grabs Rose's hand "Looks like we should do what I told you to when we first met."

Rose grabbed Martha's hand.

"Ready, Set.."

"Run!" He yelled.

And they did.

**A/N:** I don't have a beta reader for this. Let me know if you would like to volunteer. Sorry that it shows.

Pelahnar: Yeah I have a problem with that. I hope this chapter is better at sticking to the same POV. It's if he lies to her. We'll get into more of that in the next chapter when the fact that he kissed Martha comes up.

Thanks for all the reviews! It won't take me so long next time as this adventure was a bit hard to write. Next chapter: The Doctor must talk about kissing Martha to Rose. Fuuun times. :D


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